Woman left dog in car for 8 hours while delivering food with boyfriend, Florida cops say

Deputies rescued a dog that had been left in a car for eight hours while the outside temperature reached 95 degrees, according to a Florida sheriff’s office.

A fisherman called law enforcement at around 10 p.m. on June 25 when he returned from fishing and saw a dog alone inside a vehicle at a park, according to a post on the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. He told deputies that he had seen the dog in the same vehicle at 2 p.m. when he left to go fishing.

All the windows in the vehicle were closed except for the driver’s side window, which was cracked slightly, the post says. One window that had been previously damaged was sealed with plastic sheeting.

The temperature inside a car can rise 20 degrees in 10 minutes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Deputies took the dog out of the car through the damaged window and noticed that the dog had defecated all over the inside of the car, the post says.

The dog’s owner came back to the car while deputies were there and told them that she had left the dog at around 2 p.m. so she could ride along with her boyfriend, who was delivering food for DoorDash and Grubhub, according to the sheriff’s office. She said that the companies do not allow dogs inside vehicles while drivers are working.

A spokesman for DoorDash told McClatchy News that the company does not have a policy banning dogs in vehicles during deliveries.

Grubhub does not have such a policy, either, a spokesperson for the company told McClatchy News.

Animal control officers responded to the scene and took possession of the dog, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office is expected to issue a warrant for the woman’s arrest on a charge of animal cruelty, according to the post.

Hernando is about 80 miles northwest of Orlando.

This story was originally published June 29, 2022 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Woman left dog in car for 8 hours while delivering food with boyfriend, Florida cops say."